Fairbanks man indicted on murder charge

FAIRBANKS (AP) -- A Fairbanks man with a history of assaulting his girlfriend was indicted Wednesday on a charge that he beat her to death two months ago.

Oliver F. Lemon, 53, was indicted on a second-degree murder charge after Nancy Tegoseak, 39, was found dead at a friend's house April 23, Fairbanks Police Detective Randy Coffey said.

It took over a month before a state medical examiner's office ruled that Tegoseak's death was a homicide, but Coffey said he immediately was suspicious.

''Things appeared to be suspicious because of the way she was dressed and the bruises and injuries she had on her,'' Coffey said.

The medical examiner's office blamed her death on blunt trauma to the head. Examiners also found recent bruises on her arms, thigh and chest, the complaint says. Coffey said her clothes were in disarray.

Lemon acknowledged hitting Tegoseak, but only once, Coffey said.

According to the complaint, a witness saw Lemon strike Tegoseak in the head with his hand, knocking her off the chair and onto the floor the day she was found dead. The female witness said the couple had been drinking at her house that day.

The witness said the couple went into a bedroom together. When the witness went in to take them some food, Tegoseak was lying unconscious on the floor. After Lemon left to go to work, the witness went back into the bedroom and noticed Tegoseak appeared blue and was not breathing.

According to court documents, Lemon attacked Tegoseak in mid-April of this year, in October 1998 and twice in 1996.

Lemon is being held at the Fairbanks Correctional Center on a $100,000 bail.